First Comes Marriage: Huxtable Series, Book 1

Against the scandal and seduction of Regency England, New York Times best-selling author Mary Balogh introduces an extraordinary family - the fiery, sensual Huxtables. Vanessa is the second daughter, proud and daring, a young widow who has her own reason for pursuing the most eligible bachelor in London. One that has nothing to do with love. Or does it?

Someone to Love: A Westcott Novel, Book 1

Anna Snow grew up in an orphanage in Bath knowing nothing of the family she came from. Now she discovers that the late Earl of Riverdale was her father and that she has inherited his fortune. She is also overjoyed to learn she has siblings. However, they want nothing to do with her or her attempts to share her new wealth. But the new earl's guardian is interested in Anna.

Simply Perfect: Simply Quartet Series, Book 4

Tall, dark, and exquisitely sensual, he is the epitome of male perfection. Not that Claudia Martin is looking for a lover. Or a husband. As owner and headmistress of Miss Martin's School for Girls in Bath, she long ago resigned herself to a life without love. Until Joseph, Marquess of Attingsborough, arrives unannounced and tempts her to toss away a lifetime of propriety for an affair that can only lead to ruin.

Slightly Married: Bedwyn Saga Series, Book 1

Like all the Bedwyn men, Aidan has a reputation for cool arrogance. But this proud nobleman also possesses a loyal, passionate heart - and it is this fierce loyalty that has brought Colonel Lord Aidan to Ringwood Manor to honor a dying soldier's request. Having promised to comfort and protect the man's sister, Aidan never expected to find a headstrong, fiercely independent woman who wants no part of his protection, nor did he expect the feelings this beguiling creature would ignite in his guarded heart.

Simply Love: The Simply Quartet, Book 2

She spies him in the deepening dusk of a Wales evening - a lone figure of breathtaking strength and masculinity, his handsome face branded by a secret pain. For single mother and teacher Anne Jewell, newly arrived with her son at a sprawling estate in Wales, Sydnam Butler is a man whose sorrows - and passions - run deeper than she could have ever imagined. As steward of a remote seaside manor, Sydnam lives a reclusive existence far from the pity and disdain of others.

Simply Magic: Simply Quartet, Book 3

On a splendid August afternoon, Susanna Osbourne is introduced to the most handsome man she has ever seen...and instantly feels the icy chill of recognition. Peter Edgeworth, Viscount Whitleaf, is utterly charming - and seemingly unaware that they have met before. With his knowing smile and seductive gaze, Peter acts the rake; but he stirs something in Susanna she has never felt before, a yearning that both frightens and dazzles her.

Simply Unforgettable: The Simply Quartet, Book 1

Stranded together in a rustic country inn, Lucius Marshall, who is the Viscount Sinclair, and Frances Allard share a night of glorious, unforgettable passion. But Frances knows her place, and it is far from the privileged world of the sensual aristocrat. Due to begin her teaching position at Miss Martin's School in Bath, Frances must try to forget that one extraordinary night - and the man who touched her with such exquisite tenderness and abandon.

An Offer from a Gentleman

Sophie Beckett never dreamed she'd be able to sneak into Lady Bridgerton's famed masquerade ball - or that Prince Charming would be waiting there for her! Though the daughter of an earl, Sophie has been relegated to the role of servant by her disdainful stepmother. But now, spinning in the strong arms of the debonair and devastatingly handsome Benedict Bridgerton, she feels like royalty. Alas, she knows all enchantments must end when the clock strikes midnight.

More than a Mistress: Mistress Series, Book 1

An arrogant duke does the unthinkable - he falls in love with his mistress.... She raced onto the green, desperate to stop a duel. In the mêlée, Jocelyn Dudley, Duke of Tresham, was shot. To his astonishment, Tresham found himself hiring the servant as his nurse. Jane Ingleby was far too bold for her own good. Her blue eyes were the sort a man could drown in - were it not for her impudence. She questioned his every move, breached his secrets, touched his soul. When he offered to set her up in his London town house, love was the last thing on his mind.

The Proposal

Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author Mary Balogh delights fans with historical romantic tales that touch the heart. After her husband dies in a freak accident, Lady Gwendoline Muir never dreams she’ll love again. So when soldier-turned-nobleman Lord Hugo Trentham stirs feelings in her that have lain dormant for years, she can’t help but imagine his strong embrace. Hugo finds himself drawn to Gwen, but he’s never courted a woman before. Can he muster the right words to make Gwen open her heart and love once more?

Unforgiven: The Horsemen Trilogy

The Woodfall and Hayes families have been bitter rivals for nearly a century. Now, after eight years, Kenneth returns home and realizes his underlying love for Miss Moira Hayes. For her, he is willing to forget the past. But can she?

Heartless

Life has taught Lucas Kendrick, duke of Harndon, that a heart is a decided liability. Betrayed by his elder brother, rejected by his fiancée, banished by his father, and shunned by his mother, Luke fled to Paris, where he became the most sought-after bachelor in fashionable society. Ten years later fate has brought him back home to England as head of the family who rejected him. Unwilling as he is to be involved with them, he must assume responsibility for his younger siblings, the family estate he once loved - and the succession.

Longing

The illegitimate daughter of an English lord, Sian Jones abandoned her heritage to live in a stalwart coal-mining community in South Wales. Empowered by their cause, she's engaged to be married to the leader of a revolutionary movement that is bracing itself against the tyranny of English mine owners. But Sian's principles are unexpectedly shaken when she accepts a job as governess under Alexander Hyatt, the mysterious marquess of Craille, the oppressive symbol of everything she has come to resist.

Indiscreet: The Horseman Trilogy

In the country visiting his twin brother, Viscount Rawleigh longs for a little diversion, and beautiful young widow Catherine Winters seems like easy prey. But Rex's target is a lady of virtue, and when she roundly rejects his improper proposal to become his mistress, Rex finds himself faced with a delectable challenge.

The Duke and I

Simon Basset, the irresistible Duke of Hastings, has hatched a plan to keep himself free from the town's marriage-minded society mothers. He pretends to be engaged to the lovely Daphne Bridgerton. After all, it isn't as if the brooding rogue has any real plans to marry - though there is something about the alluring Miss Bridgerton that sets Simon's heart beating a bit faster. And as for Daphne, surely the clever debutante will attract some very worthy suitors now that it seems a duke has declared her desirable.

A Matter of Class

Reginald Mason is wealthy, refined, and, by all accounts, a gentleman. However, he is not a gentleman by birth, a factor that pains him and his father, Bernard Mason, within the Regency society that upholds station over all else. That is, until an opportunity for social advancement arises, namely, Lady Annabelle Ashton.

Beyond the Sunrise

Even at 15, Jeanne, the privileged daughter of a royalist EmigrE, knew what she liked: Englishman Robert Blake, bastard son of a marquess. Yet his questionable birth rendered him forbidden. Forced to part, they were still young enough to believe in tomorrow. But as time passed, that brief ephemeral flirtation at Haddington Hall faded into memory.

The Viscount Who Loved Me

Anthony Bridgerton hasn't just decided to marry - he's even chosen a wife! The only obstacle is his intended's older sister, Kate Sheffield - the most meddlesome woman ever to grace a London ballroom. The spirited schemer is driving Anthony mad with her determination to stop the betrothal, but when he closes his eyes at night, Kate's the woman haunting his increasingly erotic dreams.

If the Earl Only Knew: The Daring Marriages, Book 1

Orphaned at young ages, Lady Katherine Ashton and her brother have spent most of their lives on the high seas, seeking to restore their family fortune through somewhat dubious means. After that kind of adventure, Kate knows, she won't ever be accepted as a proper society lady. To the annoyingly clever, temptingly handsome, and altogether troublesome Earl of Wynbrook, society ladies are a dead bore. Kate, on the other hand, is scandalous, alluring, and altogether fascinating.

How to Capture a Duke: Matchmaking for Wallflowers, Book 1

Fiona Amberly is more intrigued by the Roman ruins near her manor house than she is by balls. When her dying grandmother worries about Fiona's future, Fiona stammers that she's secretly engaged. Soon she finds herself promising that she will introduce her husband-to-be by Christmas.

Marrying Winterborne

Savage ambition has brought common-born Rhys Winterborne vast wealth and success. In business and beyond, Rhys gets exactly what he wants. And from the moment he meets the shy, aristocratic Lady Helen Ravenel, he is determined to possess her. If he must take her virtue to ensure she marries him, so much the better....

Do You Want to Start a Scandal

On the night of the Parkhurst ball, someone had a scandalous tryst in the library. Was it Lord Canby, with the maid, on the divan? Or Miss Fairchild, with a rake, against the wall? Perhaps the butler did it. All Charlotte Highwood knows is this: It wasn't her. But rumors to the contrary are buzzing. Unless she can discover the lovers' true identity, she'll be forced to marry Piers Brandon, Lord Granville - the coldest, most arrogantly handsome gentleman she's ever had the misfortune to embrace.

Miss Wonderful: Carsington Brothers, Book 1

War hero Alistair Carsington really really loves women, and his romantic impulses have landed him in nearly as much danger as the Battle of Waterloo. To avoid his usual temptations and perhaps even repay the friend who saved his life, he's exiled himself to a place far from civilization - Derbyshire - in winter! Fate laughs at his good intentions and drives him straight into conflict with Miss Mirabel Oldridge, his match in tenacity, intelligence, and deviousness - who also happens to be wildly irresistible.

Not Quite a Lady: Carsington Brothers Series

Darius Carsington is a spectacularly attractive rake, who's all brains and brawn...and no heart; a man who's equally expert at bedding loose-moraled women and writing scholarly papers. He finds society's "perfect darlings" exceedingly boring. Then why is he so intrigued by the supposedly faultless Lady Charlotte Hayward? Darius senses a crack under her polished surface - and finding it is a challenge he can't resist.

Publisher's Summary

“The Devil was about to be tamed.”

Her name is Hannah Reid. Born a commoner, she has been Duchess of Dunbarton ever since she was 19 years old, the wife of an elderly duke to whom she has been rumored to be consistently and flagrantly unfaithful. Now the old duke is dead and, more womanly and beautiful than ever at 30, Hannah has her freedom at last.

And she knows just what she wants to do with it. To the shock of a conventional friend, she announces her intention to take a lover - and not just any lover, but the most dangerous and delicious man in all of upper-class England: Constantine Huxtable.

Constantine’s illegitimacy has denied him the title of Earl, so now he denies himself nothing... or so the ton would have it. Rumored to be living the free and easy life of a sensualist in his country estate, he always chooses recent widows for his short-lived affairs. Hannah will fit the bill nicely.

But once these two passionate and scandalous figures find each other, they discover that it isn’t so easy to extricate oneself from the fires of desire - without getting singed. For the duchess and the dark lord each have startling secrets to reveal, and when all is said and done, neither will be able to say which one fell in love first, who tamed whom, and who has emerged from this game of hearts with the stronger hand.

I don't understand the 1 star rating. This is the first novel I have read from theis author and am going to read her other releases. The only reason it is not 5 stars is because of the narrator. She is a little stiff.

I'm not certain why this only got a one star rating, but I enjoyed it quite thoroughly - as I always seem to do, with Mary Balogh's novels! I confess that I was awaiting a match for "Con" (a character type I particularly enjoy) -- and that made it all the more exciting. I wonder if the reviewer did not care for the slightly stylized rendition that Anne Flosnik offers. When the story is good, though, she gives it "front stage" and allows it to shine on its own merit. Additionally, her tone is well suited to the dry, urbane humor that marks Balogh's works. I give it a four + -- probably mostly to allow a bit of room in case I need a future five -- and recall thinking that this is one I'll want to "read" again!!!

Like a lot of romance novels, this one is predictable, unlikely and unrealistic. I don't mind any of those things in and of themselves (we are talking romanice novels here!) but this one was pretty dull as well. There was no brilliant command of language, situation or character to give the story life, only the predictable misunderstood heros and heroines who all find each other in the end, besides becoming wealthy and titled along the way.

The first book I listen to from the series. It got me hooked from the first chapter! and because of it I listened to the whole series of the Huxatbles. The series is amazing! I recommand all the 5 books of the series ALL :)

I must be the second reviewer to give this audio a 1 star according to the previous reviewer. Out of over 100 audio books, this was my most dull and boring experience. The narrator was extremely annoying to the point of cringing. All the characters were terribly bland along with the story line and I really got tired of hearing the bossy unappealing "heroine" talk about how beautiful she was. I also began to roll my eyes over all the flowing tears from both males and females. Just not my thing.

I've listened to all in this series so far. Has been awhile since the 4th book. Found myself really liking both main characters in this story. Hannah was surprisingly likable, certainly not what I expected. There were funny moments when I laughed out loud. Loved the interactions with her friend from childhood, the 'shocking' things people thought about Hannah and how she maintained that facade. I liked this narrator better than in the past. I have many books narrated by her. This one she didn't drop her sentence endings as much as others. Thought she did a good job with the different characters. Overall highly recommend this book, this is one of my favorite authors.

The Narrator of this story has a voice of silk & satin. The story is a good example of the ways some cope with betrayal, hiding behind "personalities" to protect themselves. It is also a story of the gaining of wisdom that comes with age, and forgiveness of betrayals unintended.

I'd try any book by Ms. Balogh if a different narrator. I saw better than average reviews for the performance so I gave it a chance. Couldn't finish the first chapter with this narrator. And I love love Mary Balogh.

I'm finding that I don't care for quite a few of the narrators of the historical romances. On the other hand, I recently purchased Grace Burrowes' The Bridegroom Wore Plaid' which had a male narrator, Roger Hampton, who did a fabulous job, bringing the story to life and creating a great listening experience. Why not use some male narrators if the female narrators don't read men well. Ms. Flosnik made the men in A Secret Affair sound old and stodgy. Very disappointed because I would eventually have purchased all the Huxtable books in audio to go along with my physical copies. She is a keeper.

Would you be willing to try another one of Anne Flosnik’s performances?